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Grade 10 Ontario standardized testing moves online

Area teens who seem attached umbilically to their screens and electronics — but who still use pen and paper to show what they know — will be tapping their first online literacy tests this week.

More than 10,000 area students will be among about 146,000 to take Grade 10 Ontario standardized tests on Thursday.

And it is likely to be just the start, as kids in Grades 3 and 6 are expected eventually to go digital.

The tests Thursday are optional — a trial run for online-literacy testing in March for the same age group — but most schools and school boards have opted in.

“We thought it was a great opportunity for students. There’s nothing to lose by doing the test on the 20th and everything to gain,” said Kathy Furlong, a superintendent with the London District Catholic school board.

Students who pass the test won’t have to re-take it in March. Those who don’t pass it can take it again in the spring without having to wait until next year and without the first one counting as failing the test.

“It’s a mulligan,” Furlong said.

Students must pass the test before they’re allowed to graduate.

About 1,800 students within the Catholic board will take this test.

Within the Thames Valley District school board, 8,000 are expected to take the test.

At the Thames Valley board, some high schools have borrowed Chromebooks from elementary- school neighbours so that they have enough devices; and information technologists in each school have the ability to turn off Wi-Fi to kids’ phones if they need to free up bandwidth.

The online-literacy test has been a long time in the making: The Education Quality and Assessment Office (EQAO), an independent agency that ensures students meet literacy and math standards, has been working on this for years and has delayed the rollout more than once.

Small-scale trials of the system have taken place, and some students wrote online practice tests as recently as Monday, said Tony Saini, director of corporate and public affairs for EQAO.

He wouldn’t characterize the online exam as a mulligan, but said it’s a “trial” of the new system and process.

He said there’s a possibility they may find technical issues, or differences in rural/urban capacity or anglophone/francophone test difficulties.

If they do happen, and if they can be resolved, he expects other online standardized tests will follow as a logical progression.